End Of Year Teacher Gifts

This is not a new idea, I did it last year when James left SAS but it was such an easy project to do that I did not hesitate to do it again this year.

I got the boys to draw a portrait of their teachers, with much cajoling and persuasion. Then, I scanned them and resized them on Photoshop.

I had them originally printed at another company but it was less than satisfactory when I received it. For one thing, it was too small, somehow I always knew it was 4.5 inches by 5.5 inches but when I got it, it was too small. So I designed it myself on Photoshop, using free children's fonts and their pictures of the teachers.

At Fedex, I asked them to photocopy 50 sheets each at 8" by 6" and they put the glue and pad on. It came up to about $6 each.

Then, I had some ribbons which I scored at Joann's on the weekend for 50% off and put them all together.

I used the hot glue gun to stick the ribbon together.  In the picture above, the smaller pad is the "mistake" that I made with the sizing but it worked out well to have two pads for the teachers. It has been such a great year for the boys.  They have survived a change in culture, country and schooling system. They have made so many friends and we are ever so grateful how easy it has been for them to just settle into life here. I know I will miss aspects of this school but looking forward to the future!

Serving Tray

While doing my usual look and see trips to thrift stores, I found this picture frame for $9. It is quite huge.

It takes up about half the size of my coffee table, which is also a blanket chest.

I removed the picture and the glass. I went to Home Depot to get plywood, the same size thickness as the glass that I removed. I thought of re-using the glass but it was very heavy and I was afraid it might break if I dropped the tray by accident. I got the very nice man at Home Depot to cut it to the exact measurement I needed.

I lightly sanded the frame and then sprayed it with primer.  After that, I sprayed it with Rustoleum's Heirloom White paint. (I realised that I forgot to take photos of this process)

I cut some fabric arond the perimeter of the plywood. I had this fabric from a while back and was wanting to experiment with decoupaging with fabric instead of paper. I used Mod Podge Outdoor, which I had to buy from ebay because it is not that easily available from the major craft stores.  They only had the normal ones. The MP Outdoor is said to be waterproof, so I thought it might be the right one to use.

I had to do it in two halfs, first I lifted the first half off and using a paintbrush, I spread the MP on the wood. Then I pasted the fabric down, removing any air bubbles that might have formed.  Next, I worked on the other half of the fabric, repeating the same steps.

Then, I coated the top of the fabric with MP. It has a creamy texture but once it dries, it is clear. I followed the instructions to let it dry for 15 to 20 minutes before sealing it with a second coat.

I placed the plywood back into the frame.  Note that I had painted the back of the plywood the same colour as the frame.

This is what the finished product looks like.  I am not entirely pleased with the surface of the tray because it is sticky, unlike my other decoupage projects wshere I finish it with shellac.  The thing with shellac is that it goes yellow with age, so I thought Mod Podge would be the answer to shellac. It is far from satisfactory and I will need to experiment with other finishes like polyurethane.

 

Ok...I admit it, there is no coffee in the cups.

Wingback Chair

Found this chair at the local thrift store for $30. Isn't she a beauty? Can't wait to get working on this!

Secretary Revealed

I have almost completed my secretary and this is the big reveal! Not if you have been following my Facebook, my step by step photos have been posted up for all to see!

I was inspired by Eddie Ross's secretary makeover here. I really liked how he put mirrors on his secretary but I thought that since this was my first project, I wanted to keep the costs as low as possible. (Ya gotta check out his blog, he has great ideas!)

I was also inspired by Kate from Centsational Girl. I have about 50 blogs that I follow everyday but I don't always have the time to read all of them. However, I always, always make time to read Kate's blog and never skip an entry. I started following her blog when I was still living in Singapore and feeling so envious of all the lovely cheap finds from thrift stores. She has so many great tutorials on her website, and I referred to her site repeatedly during my attempt to paint this secretary.

This is the "before" shot. This is what it looks like today. Click on the photo to see the larger shot.

I had to change the hardware, although some of it was quite difficult to replace, like the lock (it is without a lock at this stage because the one I bought was about 1 to 2 mm off in measurement and the door would not shut. Grr! That lock cost me US$8! I still have yet to put back the desk lid because I banged something against it and put a dent in the paint.  It is now drying, after a bit of sanding and repainting. 

Here is  how I did it.

First, I sanded the whole secretary. Before that, I removed all the hardware, took all the pieces apart. For the harder to reach places, I did the best I could or left it.

Repairing holes and wood gluing back the rickety bits.

Next, I primed the wood with Zinsser Oil Based Primer. At first I thought of using water based primer but heard the results of oil based primer was far superior. However, after I had started with it, I regretted it because it was difficult to clean the primer. Ya just can't wash it off with water - duh! I had to buy paint thinner and eventually brush cleaner but neither of them worked. I had to throw out my very good brushes and rollers after a few coats. Ouch!

Then the fun part began - painting! I used Rustoleum's Heirloom White, which is an off white colour.

 

As for the inside of the shelf, I painted it a Tiffany blue colour. For the life of me, I don't know what the colour is called, I looked at the can and could only come up with Continental Hotel Abby and I am sure that isn't it!

I changed the hardware, purchased from Lee Valley in Canada. They have the best hardware and woodworking stuff, all presented in a beautiful catalog.

Very happy with the way this turned out, not too bad for a first project in terms of difficulty. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably have covered up the keyhole, and placed a handle or pull on it as antique locks probably don't match up with today's.

Bosch Pocket Driver Giveaway

I hit a snag with my secretary makeover because I was trying to hammer in some nails to put the parts all back together.  The angle of some of these nails make it difficult for me to get the nails all the way in. So I thought that if I had screws instead, it might be better and what I would like is to get a driver to help me drill holes into the wood, it would make things easier. 

I went to Home Depot on Friday with Matt and I tell you, we both stood there, not knowing what to get. I was overwhelmed with the choices. However, one thing was obvious, most of the drivers were pretty heavy and the one I liked was cordless and small, about 1.8 pounds. However, it was a lot more than I had planned on spending because, well, I am not a serious carpenter or a DIYer. This is my first project on a $100 secretary and I found it hard to justify spending $79 on a driver. No doubt, I will get plenty of use out of it but I just don't have that in my budget right now.

So today, I found out that A Concord Carpenter is having this great giveaway! It sounds like an absolute dream power tool. Robert does a video review of the product too, which is very handy (no pun intended!) for people like me, who need to see how some of these things work.

Click on the link to enter the giveaway! Although, for selfish reasons, I hope that I win it!

More Furniture Finds

I saw this photo on Lonny magazine and fell in love with these beds for the kids.

So when I saw these maple beds on craiglist, I just had this light come on in my head. We paid $50 for each of them.

Can you see where I am heading with these beds? They are solid as. I love that man's wingback chairs in the background, I am on the lookout for a pair too! Now that we have a new home to move into, I can start planning what colours to paint our furniture!

Dorothy Draper Find

Sorry for not blogging in here for a while. I have been very busy house hunting and we have been quite selective about what we want. Our reasoning is that we have lived in rental homes for so long now that we feel we deserve to live in a place that we consider "perfect"!  However, as we continue our search, I wonder if there is such a thing as a perfect home within a budget?

Anyway, last Friday, Apartment Therapy featured a pair of Dorothy Draper chest of drawers, for $140. As you may be aware, I have been drooling over these for a while but I can't justify buying them for thousands of dollars.

I called the lady and to my disappointment, she said a gentleman was coming to see it - she lived in Virginia and there was no way we could go see it straight away as it was a weekday, and I was not confident about driving. (My dear hubby takes me to this thrift finds, what a honey!)

So, I was resigned to letting it go but for some reason, the next day, when Matt had a day off work, I called her again to see if they had been sold. She said no!!! It was meant to be mine! I had the same feeling when I spotted the lovely Union Jack dresser - that it had my name written on it.

They both managed to fit into our car and here they are, sitting in my garage, waiting for us to move into our new home. I want to see what sort of furniture I will buy as we move so I haven't decided what colour to paint it yet. In the meantime, aren't they just divine??? There are two of them, the other one is behind it. In the background, you can see I am working on the secretary. It is done but I need to put a glossy coat on it and I have to do some research on how to make furniture look glossy.